Until 2002 I was a Senior Physiotherapist, working in the community. Many of the patients I saw were so demotivated I knew they wouldn't do the exercises I'd taught them or carry out the lifestyle changes I advised. Mrs Smith wasn't getting out of her chair because she had no reason to. Millions of people simply exist behind four walls with no structure or purpose to their day and no meaningful social contact.

I felt we needed to take a step back with these individuals. They needed to develop an interest in the world, in their own health and wellbeing and social contact before any medical intervention could reap benefits. The system we found ourselves in took no consideration of the whole person and the critical role that psychological wellbeing and sense of self plays in the healing process. I became very frustrated.


I decided on a major career change and become a freelance production editor on a range of leisure-based magazines. Fast forward a couple of years here to when I was asked to help out the CrossStitcher magazine team at Future Publishing.

It was here I was made aware of the large number of people who were using stitching and knitting to successfully self-manage a variety of medical conditions, in particular stress, depression and long-term pain. I immediately thought of my 'community patients', so I decided it warranted further investigation as what I'd stumbled across was potentially very exciting. A large number of people from a range of different countries, backgrounds and age groups were making strikingly similar claims about the therapeutic benefits of knitting and stitching.

I began to think of ways I could get the message across to others who might benefit, so the idea for Stitchlinks was born in January 2005. I wanted to create a central hub which could always be trusted and relied upon to give accurate information because I realised that, even at this early stage, 'the media' would undoubtedly sensationalise prospective findings.

My initial thoughts were that knitting and stitching could provide an easily accessible way of providing rewarding occupation to those who were housebound. It's been known for some time that occupied people feel less pain and depression than those who do nothing.

It was clear from the anecdotal evidence that knitting and stitching were powerful distractants, enabling people to literally take their minds off pain and other problems. However, as I dug deeper it soon became clear that the benefits were going much deeper than simply occupying people. This was something hugely exciting which had the potential to change the way we approach healthcare.

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